This invention pertains to the general area of hand held tools and more particularly to a remote pinching device activated by an operator holding and gripping a handle having a trigger. The tool is to be used for manipulating the carcasses of small dead animals apart from the operator, including safely picking up and transporting the animals.
There are numerous situations when the direct use of the hands of a person to pickup and transport objects is unsafe. The safety may be as a result of the person being required to physically exert more force than their ability and strength allow, or it may be the number of times that a person is required to exert an otherwise safe force. Repeated actions often produce fatigue followed by physical strain and over exertion. For example, a typical chicken farm may raise 100,000 chickens over a period of six weeks. With a 10 percent death rate there would be 238 dead chickens to pick up and transport to a future disposal area each day, on the average. Obviously, fatigue may become a problem with the chicken farmer. Safety may also manifest itself in being a danger to the health of a person resulting from the nature of the object. For example, if the objects are dead animals, they can be infested with disease and other dangerous decomposition substances and organisms.
Of particular concern in the pickup and transportation of objects by a remote hand operated tool is the ability to properly grip and hold the object. The use of a roughened inner surface of the jaws or plates contacting the object is commonly known. However, the direct pinching force of these devices is frequently not adequate to hold the object. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,353 the end pinching device has pointed sharp ends that penetrate the object such that it can be picked up and transported. The pinching device is forced apart by a coil spring near the lower end of the tool. A chain assembly is attached to a handle at the opposite end of an elongated tube of the tool to close the pinching device. The tool operates by a series of linkages with a coil spring to place the pinching device linkages in an open position.
The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 322,070 further indicates that the pinching device jaws (plates) which grip the object have a roughened inner surface held against the object (a brush) by means of a slip ring. This tool is also made using a combination of rigid linkages. No device or means for moving said jaws is provided at the remote end of the handle. The operator must approach the object to secure it in place with the slip ring.
A combination of linkages and a coil spring are also components of the litter pickup device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,759. A control cable allows the distance between the jaws to be adjusted for various types of objects (litter). The pinching device jaws do not have roughened inner surfaces. The jaws are activated by the control cable being attached to a handle at an upper shaft portion at its end. The upper shaft does not extend beyond the handle.
Other means to position the jaws or plates in an open position prior to grabbing an object are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,429,444; 3,527,492; and 4,962,957. These patents rely on leaf springs at the grabber end of the hand held tool to provide support for the plates that cradle the object to be picked up. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,429,444 the leaf springs are bias closed, but held open by a hinged device. When the toothed graspers or catchers are placed to pick up an object, a rod is lowered to collapse the hinged device and thereby grabbing the object. No handle activating device is provided as this tool is for removing articles from wells using a long rope or cable.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,492 two pair of leaf springs (of a trash pickup device) extend from the lower end of an elongated shaft. One pair of springs is attached to the lower end of the shaft and the other pair extends upward inside the hollow shaft. This other pair of leaf springs is connected by a rod to a trigger lever that pulls these springs further into the shaft when the trigger is gripped by the operator. This action brings the flexible discs, one at the end of each one of the first pair of leaf springs, to grip an object to be picked up and transported. The trigger is part of a bent end portion of the hollow shaft that provides a handle at the upper end of the tool.
The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,957 also describes a tool having two pair of leaf springs, a hollow elongated shaft containing components that attach one inner pair of leaf springs to a handle and a pair of spaced apart pickup fingers at the lower end of the outer pair of leaf springs for grabbing an object. The inner pair of leaf springs are attached to the outer pair of leaf springs to pull the pickup fingers and bias them closed on the object. This tool further includes a locking device to hold the fingers on the object.
The pickup tools of the prior art have a number of shortcomings. When the single hand power of the operator is not sufficient, due to physical limitations and/or fatigue, there is no place to grab the tool with a second hand. The hollow elongated shaft or tube below the handle should be only long enough to reach the object on the ground when the operator's arm is extended. A further problem with the prior art tools exists with the ability to have the spikes or fingers on the plates or jaws contacting the object to penetrate the outer surface of the object and improve the gripping efficiency. This is particularly true with dead chickens which have a layer of feathers which resist the penetration of the spikes or fingers.
There remains a need to have a hand held grappling tool for operation by two hands, if needed. Also, the gripping action of the plates or jaws with spikes or fingers needs to be improved.
Accordingly, the objects of this invention are to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. The apparatus of this invention has an overall object to be a hand held grappling tool being light in weight and operated from a standing position.
In another object of this invention, the grappling tool is to be used for picking up and transporting the carcasses of small dead animals, such as chickens on a chicken farm. The tool is to maintain a safe distance from the animal to the person operating the tool and be capable of penetrating the animal's protective coating.
A further object of this invention is to provide a grappling tool which can be used by both hands of the operator to limit physical strain and fatigue due to repeated operations.